DENVER (KDVR) — A new study shows youth violence is falling sharply in one Denver neighborhood, but the program credited with driving that change could soon lose critical federal funding.
Between 2016 and 2021, arrests for violent crimes involving youth dropped 75% in Denver’s Northeast Park Hill neighborhood, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder. They say the Youth Violence Prevention Center-Denver played a key role in that drop through its evidence-based, community-driven prevention programs.
“It’s a significant result, and it’s something that the community should be very, very proud of,” said Beverly Kingston, director of CU Boulder’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. “The community looks at their own data, their own needs and then they identify research-based strategies to address those needs.”
The study, published in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, highlights a prevention strategy focused on social-emotional learning and youth-led initiatives, including the “Game Changers” program. But the final year of a five-year, $1.2 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is at risk of being cut as the CDC faces budget reductions.
“That $1.2 million is the funding for the fifth and final year,” Kingston said. “That is when we analyze all the data, write the papers and disseminate the findings.”
Kingston said prevention efforts like YVPC-D’s are not only more effective than reacting to crime after it happens — they’re also less expensive in the long run.
Sixteen-year-old peer leader Imani Shannon said the program has expanded her perspective on how violence impacts the community and how youth can help address it.
“It bridges the youth and also adults, and the way we’re doing it through these alternatives, I think, is really essential to the community,” Shannon said.
About 90% of YVPC-D’s funding comes from federal sources. Leaders say they are calling on private donors and community support to help sustain the work.
The center hosted a media event Thursday night, followed by a screening of Breaking the Cycle: Stories of Strength and Survival of Gun Violence, a documentary created by participants in the program.
More information about YVPC-D’s work can be found here.
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